The perfect stranger
by OnceSwanMills
Summary: SwanQueen fanfic. Emma swan is not particularly fond of her boring job at a café, until she meets the sophisticated and gorgeous Regina Mills and everything changes.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

6:00 am was the time displayed on the alarm as the radio blasted out. Emma reluctantly rolled over and searched for the button on top of the alarm clock, slamming her hand on her bedside table a few times in the process, resulting in numerous curse worse being muttered. Emma never really had a problem waking up early in the mornings, after all she had gotten used to it with the un-godly hours the care homes she had lived in throughout her childhood had made her get up at, however there was something about Monday mornings that just plain irritated her. She dragged herself out of the comfort of her bed and walked lazily over to the bathroom. "Shit!" she yelled as she stepped into the freezing cold shower. "Fucking idiot" she murmured to herself upon the realisation that she had forgotten to switch the tap to hot. She quickly showered before getting dressed and pulling her hair into a messy ponytail, deciding to skip make-up as she realised she was running late for work. She quickly made herself a coffee and poured cereal into her bowl and sat down at the small table in the middle of her kitchen. 5 minutes later she was out of the door and on her way to her "crappy café job" as she usually referred to it. Her morning at work was dragging, and it had only been made worse by the unusually high number of rude customers that she had served that morning. When the café went quiet at around 1pm, she busied herself by re arranging the snacks on the counter and distractedly listening to the radio that played quietly in the background. To say the least her cafe job was boring, but one advantage of not being too busy was the opportunity she had to 'people watch', Emma always enjoyed listening in on other people's stories and conversations, and watching them with their friends and family, as the company of other people was something that was rare in her life. She had her best friend, Ruby, but apart from that she pretty much had no one, which could make living in a busy city feel lonely. Emma was pulled from her distracted thoughts as she heard the door open. She looked up and was immediately astounded by the gorgeous Brunette that she saw walking sophisticatedly towards her. Emma immediately regretted the decision she had made earlier that morning to dress casually and make very little effort to make herself look presentable, as she felt completely intimidated by the woman standing in front of her. "Excuse me?!" the brunette repeated, with a slight irritation in her voice. Emma realised that she must have been distracted, and that she had made the woman repeat herself. She looked up with an apologetic smile, "Sorry, what can I get you?" she asked politely. She frowned at the still irritated look on the woman's face, "Latte to go, please." The woman answered. "Of course, it will be with you in 2 minutes." Emma replied, still trying to keep the polite smile on her face, while also ignoring the fact that she was probably blushing. She found the woman attractive, and this made it difficult for Emma to make eye contact or behave like a normal, mature adult towards the perfect stranger standing in front of her. She turned around to make the coffee for the woman, trying desperately not to be her usual clumsy self and drop anything when she realised that the woman was staring at her as she completed the task. "Thank you." The woman said with a slight smile as she took the coffee from Emma and handed her the money for the coffee. "No problem, have a nice day." Emma said. "Thank you, you too, urm?" "Emma." She replied when she realised the woman was asking for her name. "Nice to meet you, Emma." She said with a smile as she turned to leave. "Aren't you going to give me your name?" Emma asked, confused. "Of course," she said with a slight laugh, "It's Regina. Regina Mills." She said as she gave one last smile to Emma and walked out of the café. "Holy shit." Emma muttered to herself as she watched her walk away through like glass window. Regina Mills had been the topic of her thoughts for the rest of her work day, and her walk home, and since she had gotten back to her apartment. "For god sake Emma, get it together!" she said to herself as she put a pizza in the oven for her dinner. "You saw the woman for 5 minutes, and you'll probably never see her again. And even if you did there's no way she feels the same way, it's ridiculous." She lectured herself. She turned on the TV, smiling to herself when she saw that her favourite show "friends" was on, and threw herself down onto the couch. She picked up her phone and called Ruby, she had decided that she would love to hear the story of her new found crush, considering she was always telling her that she needed to start "showing more human feelings." "Emma, hey!" Ruby said in her naturally over friendly and happy voice. "Hey Rubes." She said, happy to hear her best friend's voice, annoying as she found it sometimes. "What's up?" Ruby asked. "Nothing much, we just haven't spoken in a while, I have something to tell you!" Emma replied. "Ooh what is it? No wait, don't tell me, you got fired didn't you?" she said jokingly. "What? No," Emma laughed, "But it does have something to do with work." "Uh huh" Ruby replied, waiting for Emma to impart her news. "Well, you know how my work is always so boring and nothing interesting ever happens? Well today was the same and I was just stood there and then I looked up and there was this really gorgeous woman just stood there in front of me and I just kinda stared at her and then she gave me this intimidating hot look and was like "Excuse me I asked for a coffee" so I was kinda like "oh yeah sure" and she was staring at me and she was really kinda hot Rubes, like wow!" Ruby laughed at her friend's enthusiasm for this story. "Haha woah Em slow down! Okay so there was a hot girl, and you completely embarrassed yourself by checking her out?" Ruby joked. "No, wha-", "I wasn't done." Ruby said "so, this hot girl, did you get her name?" she asked. "Yeah, Regina Mills. But it so doesn't matter because I'll totally never see her agai-"Emma was interrupted by Ruby's shocked response. "Wait Regina Mills? Oh my god Em! That's my boss, Cora's daughter! I was at work today having lunch with her and she was telling me that she had just gotten off the phone with her daughter, who was telling her about a 'stunning blonde' who she had met during her trip to get a coffee on her lunch break!" Emma tried to hide her excitement at the thought that Regina had also found her attractive as she asked "oh my god! Seriously? Wow, I mean, it could have been anyone, I'm not the only blonde woman in new York, she probably wasn't referring to me." Emma said. "Seriously Emma? Of course she was referring to you. Accept it, Regina Mills thinks you're hot. This is a sign, I'm totally setting you guys up." Emma sighed, trying to cover up her secret excitement at the prospect of a date with the gorgeous woman she had met earlier that day. "Ruby, she might not even be gay." She stated. "Well you're wrong there, Cora told me she is. Anyway, I gotta go, but this is so exciting, I'll call you soon, love you." Ruby said, "see ya Rubes" Emma said as she hang up, smiling uncontrollably. For the first time in a long while, she felt like maybe it could work out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The next few days at work, Emma's mind was distracted by thoughts of Regina Mills. Ruby had called her the morning after she first met Regina, and told her that she would be seeing her at a staff party at her work, and that she would be setting the two of them up. She had tried not to act overly bothered by this, but the truth was that she couldn't be more excited. She couldn't wait to see the gorgeous woman who had invaded her thoughts ever since she first saw her, again. She knew that tonight was the night of Ruby's work party, and she couldn't wait to see what would happen, truthfully, she wished she could go, just so she could see Regina that night, but she knew that Ruby would do just fine in setting them up without her being there, she trusted her and knew her well enough to know that if getting Emma and Regina to go on a date was her mission, then that's exactly what would happen. Emma finished closing the café and locked up, then started making her way down the street towards her building. It was 7pm, which meant only 30 minutes until Ruby would be going to her party, and hopefully talking Regina into going on a date, or at least going for coffee to get to know Emma. This thought made her smile, she knew it was soon to be excited over this, she had only ever even seen the woman once, and for a short period of time, but something about her just made Emma think that it was supposed to work out, of course, she still had the fear in her head that it was only one sided and she had completely got the wrong idea, even though she really knew that was not the case. She had just walked into her building when she heard her phone notifying her that she had a text, she looked down and smiled when it was from Ruby. ' _Hey Em, tonight's the night;) you excited?"_ Emma smiled at her friend's enthusiasm, it just showed her that she genuinely cared about her, which was something not many people in her life had done. ' _Hi, sure, I guess, but remember Rubes she might not even want to get to know me. Don't wanna get my hopes up just yet.'_ Emma frowned as she pressed send, she knew in the back of her mind that it was too late, she already did have her hopes up, and she didn't particularly want to think about the disappointment she would feel if Regina didn't agree, not that she wasn't used to it of course. ' _Yeah yeah sure, I know you Emma, you so are excited about this and you should be, Regina is hot and besides, you've never really had a proper relationship, this could work out, it's exciting! Anyway, I gotta go, work to do;) text you tomorrow, love ya X'_ Emma quickly typed out a goodbye and rummaged through her bag looking for the keys to her apartment. She opened the door and dropped her bag carelessly on the floor and walked over to the couch and switched on the TV. As much as she tried, Emma couldn't seem to distract herself from thoughts of what could possibly happen between herself and Regina after tonight. She decided to quickly shower and go to bed, and hopefully tomorrow she could go talk to Ruby about what happened, as Saturday was her day off and she had no plans. Light beamed through the curtains as Emma woke up and rolled over only to see 10am displayed as the time on her alarm clock. She groaned as she rolled back over and pulled the covers up over her face. It wasn't often that Emma slept in this late, but truthfully she hadn't want to wake up, she felt too nervous about the possibilities of what could of occurred last night. She sat up and reached over to her phone that was led on the table beside her bed. A confused look spread across her face when she saw a text displayed on her phone from a number she didn't recognise. ' _Hi, Emma, it's Regina Mills, we met on Monday, I am not sure if you remember, anyway, I spoke to a girl named Ruby last night, who said she was your best friend. She spoke very fondly of you, and seemed to believe that we would get along well, so she gave me your number and told me to contact you. This may seem short notice, but I do not have any plans tomorrow, and Ruby has informed me that you will more than likely also be available, so I was wondering if you would like to go for coffee? Let me know. X'_ "Oh my god" Emma said to herself as she quickly dialled Ruby, "Ruby!" Emma said when she finally picked up, "Oh my god Regina has asked me to go for coffee tomorrow! What did you say to get her to agree?" Emma asked. "To be honest, I hardly even had to say anything Emma, as soon as I mentioned you it was obvious that she clearly felt the same way you did when you saw her, and when I told her that you liked her, her eyes lit up. I gave her your number and told her to go for it." Ruby replied. "Well what do I do? I can't just agree and then meet her can I?" Emma asked. "Of course you're going to go and meet her Emma Swan! You WILL go and meet the hot woman who clearly finds you very attractive and wants to get to know you, do you understand?!" she said. "Thank you, for talking to her for me." Emma said, "I will go and meet her, but I'm so nervous, what if after we've had a proper conversation she never wants to talk to me again?" She asked, panicking. "Then she's an idiot." Ruby said, matter-of-factly. Emma laughed at her friend's bluntness. "Thanks Rubes." She said, "I've gotta go freak out over my coffee 'date' and plan my outfit now, ill call you after and tell you how it goes! See ya." She said. "Okay, good!, bye Em." Ruby said. Emma smiled before hanging up the phone and hopping out of bed to go make herself some breakfast. A sudden good mood had washed over her upon the realisation that she would be seeing Regina tomorrow. "Shit!" she muttered to herself when she realised she hadn't even responded to Regina's text. _'Hi Regina, yeah of course I remember! Sure, coffee sounds good, where? And what time? Emma x'_ She hit send and smiled when she remembered her earlier conversation with ruby. Ruby had said that she had told Regina that Emma liked her, but when she had texted her this morning, Regina had said she wasn't sure if Emma had remembered her. "Good job trying to play it cool, Regina." Emma thought as she smirked to herself. She jumped when her phone buzzed, distracting her from her thoughts. _'Great! There's a little coffee shop across from your friends work, you won't miss it. So meet there, at 2pm? Is that okay? See you tomorrow. X'_ Emma's heart fluttered as she typed out her response. _'Sure, 2pm sounds good. See you there. x'_ "Tomorrow" she thought as she smiled to herself. Emma had spent the majority of her day off on the couch watching Netflix and thinking about Regina. At 9pm she decided to plan her outfit for the next day, which ended up with half of her clothes being flung across the room. She never usually cared too much about how she looked, but that was all different now, she wanted to live up to Regina's standards. She decided to dress casually, as casual clothes were really all she owned, but she decided on her favourite black skinny jeans, a grey t-shirt and her black leather jacket and some boots. "I suppose it will have to do." She murmured to herself as she looked in the mirror. She got her pyjamas on and folded her clothes ready for the morning and got into bed, knowing fully well that she would not be able to sleep, she was looking forward to the next day too much. Emma's alarm went off at 8:30, she hesitated about getting up, but that soon changed when she realised what day it was. All the previous feelings of excitement she had felt all morning were quickly replaced by nerves as she had one last glance at herself in the mirror before she grabbed her back and keys and set off to leave the apartment. She quickly texted Ruby before locking her door. ' _Wish me luck Rubes!"_ the response came almost immediately, which Emma was thankful for, it took her mind of the nervousness she was feeling. ' _Good luck! Don't worry, you'll be fine! Have fun! X"_ Emma quickly read the text as she walked, and decided that she should double check with Regina that their plans hadn't changed. ' _Hey, just checking, we're still meeting right?'_ Emma clicked send and hoped for a response. Her phone buzzed. _'Right X' the text said._ "Okay thank god." Emma thought to herself as she made her way towards Ruby's work. Emma gulped as she saw the beautiful brunette stood waiting outside the café. "This is it." She thought as she slowly started to make her way over.


	3. Chapter 3

"Regina, hey!" Emma smiled when she reached the brunette woman stood waiting outside the coffee shop. "Hello Miss Swan, lovely of you to finally join me." Regina said with a smirk. Emma blushed when she realised that she was in fact a couple of minutes late, she just didn't realise Regina would have actually noticed, of course she should have guessed considering the woman looked as if she had her life together and would be organised, which of course was the complete opposite to Emma. "Yeah, sorry I'm a little late, I guess it took me longer than usual to get ready, I didn't realise-"Regina cut her off, an amused smile on her face at the blonde's rambling. "It's quite alright, Miss Swan, you're only a few minutes late and I had gotten here rather early anyway." "Right, yeah okay, so shall we go in?" Emma asked, already leading Regina in through the door of the small café. The two stood in line to order their drinks, in a rather awkward silence, neither really knowing how to start the conversation off. It was Regina who finally spoke, causing the blonde to be pulled from her thoughts. "So I spoke to your friend Ruby yesterday, she speaks very highly of you, how did the two of you become friends?" Regina asked, obviously bringing that up as a topic that would get conversation flowing. "We met in high school, she was my best friend within the first year and we stayed close all through school, I thought we would lose contact when I started college, but we didn't, I finished college 2 years ago now and we've still spoken nearly every day since. She's a good friend, I'm glad I didn't lose her." Emma said, an absent smile on her lips from thinking about her best friend. "She seems like a lovely person. It is always good to have a friend you know you can rely on, it's similar with my best friend, Kathryn, however we met during college, we did lose contact for a few years when she disappeared off travelling for a while, but she made an effort to contact me as soon as she was back in the city, we caught up and it seemed as if we had never stopped talking. She got a job in the library and has now settled here, so we see each other often." Emma interrupted when she realised what Regina had just said "Kathryn Nolan? I know her, my friend Belle works in the library too, and we've met a couple of times when I've gone there to visit belle, or just been in the library to read in general." "Well it's a small world, Miss Swan." Regina said, mentally noting to ask her best friend about her encounters with Emma later on. "Please, call me Emma. Miss Swan seems so formal and I did give you my name back at the café for a reason, so you could use it." Emma said, smirking. "Very well, Emma." Regina said, drawing out Emma's name to prove a point. They reached the front of the queue and both made their orders, the waitress telling them that she would bring their drinks over to them, and seated themselves at a table near the back of the café. "So, how long have you been working at the café?" Regina asked, attempting to start the conversation back up again. "2 years, since I finished college, I didn't want to go to university but I didn't want to stay living at home either, I needed to get a job in order to pay for my apartment. I didn't move in there straight away though, I moved in with Ruby for a while until I could get enough money together." "And do you enjoy it? Your job, in the café, I mean." Regina asked, taking a sip of her coffee. "Not at all. The pay is crappy and it's the same thing every day, apart from the odd incident with customers here and there, it's pretty boring." Emma stated. Regina frowned slightly at this. "Then why don't you leave, or at least try to find a different job that you would enjoy? Something you're good at that would be rewarding, rather than just doing a job because it's there." She asked, sounding blunter than she had intended. Luckily the blond hadn't taken offence as she gave a slight laugh before her reply. "Yeah, I would if it were that easy or if I had anything that I were good at. I can barely even do this job without screwing up, why do you think I've stayed working at a job I don't enjoy?" the blonde laughed, although Regina didn't seem amused by the self-depreciating comments Emma had just made. "Everyone is good at something, dear. And Staying in a job you are miserable in just because it's their can't be any way to live." Regina replied. "It's not that bad." Emma said, heart fluttering at the endearment Regina had just used towards her "and it only makes me miserable while I'm there. Although, I did have a rather good day there yesterday." The blonde said. Regina smiled at the information that the blonde had had a good day. "That's good then dear, why was yesterday so different?" Emma smiled at the thought that Regina had cared what sort of day she'd had, "Well I met this beautiful brunette woman who I kinda had a huge crush on, and she asked me to go for coffee, so I was pretty happy about that." Emma said with a smirk. Regina blushed realising the blonde had been referring to her, and couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face. Regina cleared her throat before she spoke, "Well, dear, I'm rather sure that this woman was also 'pretty happy' that the gorgeous blonde she met in the café accepted her offer to go for coffee, so it seems we both had a good day yesterday." She said, the amusement clear in her eyes as it was now the blonde who was blushing. "I guess we did." The blonde said, trying to ignore the fact she was blushing like a thirteen year old schoolgirl. Emma cleared her throat, breaking the silence that had fallen upon the two before speaking. "So, what about you? Do you enjoy your job? You work for your mom don't you? I can't imagine ever doing that." Emma said, trying to break the awkwardness that had formed somewhere between their last conversation and now. "Yes, I work with my mother, not for her, and yes I do enjoy my job, however I sometimes feel that my mother only wants me there as a way to have some control over my life. She likes to feel like she's in control over me and what I do. And, as you said about your job, office work can sometimes be quite boring, which is actually why I was out to get coffee yesterday, I needed to get away for a while." Regina explained. "Yeah I get that, after a full day working at the café I always leave feeling like I need some time to myself, it can be quite stressful, especially when the customers are assholes, which believe me, is quite often. That sucks about your mom though, the whole controlling thing. It's kinda nice that she cares enough to even want to be in control though, right?" Emma asked, finishing off the remainder of her coffee. "Yes, I am grateful to have a mother who cares about me, however sometimes it seems as if she cares more about me having my life in an order that suits her, than she actually does about me. Which is why I only agreed to work in partnership with my mother in her company, rather than working for her, I felt as if she already had enough control over me without acting as my boss as well." She explained. "Yeah, I get that." Emma said, sensing that Regina did not want to go into further discussion about her mother. "What about your parent's? Are you still in contact with them often?" Regina asked, attempting to shift the conversation back over to Emma's life. "Not really-"the blonde shrugged, "Everything was pretty complicated when I was a kid, my mom, Mary-Margaret got pregnant when she was young and 'had no other choice' but to put me into the foster system, apparently. Anyway, when I was about 15 they found me again and I got to go back and live with them, but to be honest they were always just too suffocating and assumed that I would just be ready to have a normal parent-daughter relationship with them after what they did, and I wasn't, which is why I left home when I was 18, I wanted to run away from that and I haven't really looked back since, I figured if I left them before I got too attached to them again, then it would remove any risk of them changing their minds about me again." She looked over at Regina who had a large frown on her face from what she had just heard. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Emma. I do not believe that your mother should have just given you up, there is always another choice. However they did want you back into their lives, and may have just seemed suffocating in order to make up for what they had put you through. I'm sure they do care a lot for you Emma, and I am not trying to tell you what to do, but as much as my mother is suffocating and controlling at the best of times, I would not want to lose her, and I imagine that you would not like the thought of losing them permanently again either, so maybe one day when you feel ready, you could try to contact them?" Emma stayed silent for a while as she contemplated what Regina had just said, and then finally spoke. "I have thought about it. However I spent most of my childhood in the foster system, and regardless of how much they try to change that, it was their fault. I survived that long without them and I can continue to do so now." Emma frowned at the sudden realisation of how much she had just shared with Regina. She had just told her things that she had never even shared with Ruby, without even a second thought about it. For some reason the blonde just felt comfortable talking to Regina, maybe it was because she was practically a stranger, but she couldn't help but feel like it was something more. The blonde was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of Regina's voice, "I understand, I just feel that family is important, and I can also relate, on some level as I had never had any sort of relationship with my sister until last year, however that was not my own choice. She had a different father to me and he had gotten full custody of her as a child, and she had made no effort to try and contact my mother when she had become an adult, although I now understand that was because she had been lead to believe that my mother was some sort of monster, by her father. My mother had attempted to find Zelena and when she had finally contacted her, she agreed to meet with my mother and they had talked and mother had obviously told Zelena about my existence. For some reason my mother and Zelena had never spoken again, but Zelena contacted me and we had gotten to know each other rather well over the times we had met, and although it was difficult at first, we are now very close. I didn't realise I needed my sister until she came into my life, and now I can't imagine it without her. I'm not saying it would be the same with you and your parents as it is obviously different circumstances, but I do recall Ruby telling me yesterday at the party that you do not know many people in the city, and having no family around you must be quite lonely, I imagine." Emma considered Regina's word's as she looked down into the empty coffee cup in front of her. Regina had hoped that she had not gone too far when the blonde had taken a while to say anything, however after what seemed like an uncomfortable amount of time, she finally spoke. "Why do you care whether I'm lonely or not? You hardly even know me, why are you making such an effort to make sure I'm okay?" Regina considered her next words carefully as she thought about what it was that she was trying to say. "I understand that we have only just met, and it would usually be too soon to make a comment like this, but I suppose it's because I care about you. As much as it is possible for you to care about someone you have only just met and hardly know. However what I do know, is that yesterday at the party when I was speaking with Ruby, she told me a lot about you and this has made me very interested in you. I also told Ruby that I wanted to get to know you, and she told me that there was no way that would happen any time soon, as you do not usually share anything with anyone, yet today you have told me things about yourself that I assume not very many other people know. So now I am interested to know, why would you share those things with me when you hardly even know me? Why would you trust me enough to tell me?" Emma contemplated what answer she was going to give to Regina, when truthfully she didn't even really know for herself. Eventually she spoke, thinking carefully about what she was saying. "I don't know why I trust you, but I just do. I feel like I know you already, I guess. I don't know, it just feels right talking to you. I feel like I can talk to you. I don't know, it's weird, I only met you yesterday and yet I feel so comfortable around you." Emma could see the slight smile forming on the other woman's face. "I know what you mean, Emma. And to be honest I haven't stopped thinking about you since I saw you in the coffee shop yesterday. I don't know why, but it feels like we were supposed to meet." "Maybe we were." Emma said smiling slightly, suddenly noticing that it was nearly 5 o'clock from the clock on the wall and that they had been sat in here for almost three hours talking. "Wow, I can't believe we've been here for nearly 3 hours!" Emma said to Regina, breaking them from the moment just before. "Has it been that long? It doesn't seem it. I suppose we should be going, after all it is nearly dinner time, and I would like to try and get to sleep early, as I have to work tomorrow morning." Emma sighed as she realised that was the case for her too. "Yeah, me too." She said, as they made their way out of the café. "Wouldn't want to be late to your favourite place!" Regina joked. Emma rolled her eyes as she turned to face Regina. "I suppose not." She smirked, not giving Regina the satisfaction of ranting about how her work was certainly not her 'favourite place'. A moment of silence passed between the two before Emma finally spoke. "Well, I suppose I should head off, I've got to go pick something up for my dinner before I can go home. Thank you for today though. I'll text you, we can meet again soon, yeah?" Emma said, trying to ignore the look of disappointment on Regina's face that Emma was leaving. "Of course. Just text me whenever you are free, and we can arrange something." Regina said, giving Emma what seemed to be a fake smile that was different to the ones she had received during the day. Emma chose to ignore it, as she was sure that Regina had not meant it to seem like that, and Emma was just overthinking as usual. "Yeah, sure, I'll let you know when I'm free." She said, with a slight frown as she wondered what could have gone wrong in the past couple of minutes. "Okay, Goodnight Miss Swan." "Night" Emma replied, not able to ignore the fact that Regina's mood had definitely changed. She was just about to turn around and ask what she had done wrong when she heard Regina's voice from behind her. "Emma, wait-"the blonde turned around to see that Regina hadn't moved from the spot she was in when she had left her. "I was just wondering if, well, you can say no of course, but, I was just wondering if you would like to come over to my apartment, to have dinner with me. It's just that most of the shops will be closed by now and you said you needed to pick something up, by the time you had done that and cooked, it will be rather late, and-"Regina stopped as she realised she was rambling and then continued "-you can say no if you wish. I just thought it would be easier and my apartment is not far from here." Emma thought about why Regina was so sure she would say no, and she suddenly felt very sorry for her, perhaps she wasn't as confident as she had thought. After a few moments Emma replied. "Of course, I would love to." Regina's face seemed to light up at this news, which also caused the blonde's face to break out in a smile. "Great!" Regina replied happily, before the two set off towards her apartment.


	4. Chapter 4

Regina's apartment was exactly how Emma would have pictured it. The walls were a classy pattern of white and black and the furniture was modern and white. The apartment was quite a lot bigger than Emma's own, and was definitely much more organised and sophisticated. "Would you like something to drink?" Regina asked, pulling Emma from her thoughts. "Oh, um, yeah, please." Emma said, still distracted by the fancy apartment she had somehow found herself in, after just one 'date' with Regina. "Is wine okay? Or I have water, if you would prefer not to drink?" "A glass of wine would be great, thanks." Regina smiled and poured Emma a glass of the red wine she had previously poured for herself. "I was going to make Lasagne, if that will be okay?" Regina asked, already getting out the items needed to prepare the dish. "Sure, sounds good." Emma smiled gratefully, careful not to show her inner distaste for the meal, truthfully she didn't really like it but she would be willing to give it a try since it would be Regina who was making it for her. "Can I help you with anything?" Emma asked after a moment of silence had passed between the two. "No dear that's okay, I am almost done anyway. Please feel free to make yourself at home." Regina said, pointing to the living area which was just across from the kitchen, "Okay, thanks." Emma said, making her way over to the black leather couch and flopping down on it as she would her own, after all, Regina had just said to make herself at home. A few minutes Later Regina emerged from the kitchen after finishing off making the dish and putting it into the oven. She seated herself on the matching black leather chair opposite Emma, her glass of wine still in hand. "Your apartment is really nice, like wow!" Emma said, breaking the silence. "Thank you dear." She said with a slight laugh, "When I originally bought it, it was only intended to be temporary while I looked for something a little bigger, but it ended up growing on me and so I decided to stay. And seeing as I live alone, it seemed silly to look for a bigger place if the space was not going to be used." "It's a really nice place so I don't blame you for not moving, and it's also a lot bigger than mine, and a lot nicer really, I mean like mine is okay and everything but it's nothing fancy, and nowhere near as organised as yours." Emma said, gesturing to the spotless apartment around her. "Yes, I do try to keep it as organised as possible, and since I don't have a lot of free time at home it is nice to come home to an organised apartment when I do. And I am sure your apartment is just as nice as mine dear." "Maybe you could come and find out some time? I mean if you would want to, you don't have to and I'd understand if you wouldn't want to spend your time in a crappy little apartment with me, and I can't cook well either so it's really not that much of an inviting offer." Regina looked up at the rambling blonde in front of her with a smile. "I would love to spend my time with you Emma, wherever it may be. For some reason I feel very drawn to you, like I want to get to know you and spend as much time as I can with you-" Regina was cut off by the sound of the oven's alarm and she excused herself from the room with an apologetic smile, while the blonde was left with tears in her eyes at Regina's words, which told her that the brunette was feeling exactly the same way as she was. Emma got up from the couch and made her way over to the kitchen where Regina was putting their plates of the Lasagne onto the table. "It smells delicious." Emma commented as she pulled out her chair and sat down opposite Regina. "Thank you dear, it's my own recipe, I do hope you enjoy." The two of them ate their meal in a silence that seemed more comfortable than it usually would between two people who were practically strangers, occasionally having small conversations mostly involving their work and what they enjoyed to do outside of work. Emma had found that Regina had an interest for reading and had shared with her that she too enjoyed it, and had also sometimes found herself writing in her spare time. She also told Regina how although when she was younger she had decided that she did not wish to go to university, she was now starting to change her mind, at which point Regina had encouraged her that it is 'never too late.' "Can I help you clear the table or anything?" Emma asked Regina as she got up from the table. "No thank you dear, it's really no trouble I am quite capable of clearing the table by myself." "Don't say I didn't offer." Emma said with a playful smile. "You can pour us both another drink though. If you want one that is?" Regina asked, secretly hoping that Emma wouldn't want to leave yet. "Yeah sure, thanks." Emma said, glad that Regina didn't want her to go straight away. Once Regina had cleared the table and Emma had poured the drinks the two had returned to the living room, however Regina now occupied the space next to Emma on the couch. Emma was the first one to speak. "So, you said you're close with your sister now? Do you see her often? I always wished I had a sister or brother, especially when I was in the system, it could get kinda lonely." Regina frowned slightly feeling sympathetic for Emma at what she had to go through, she could tell it was still a tough subject for Emma, even though she did a good job of hiding it and was nonchalant when speaking of her time in the foster system, as if it had not affected her at all, however Regina knew this was not the case. "Yes rather often, I'm meeting her tomorrow for coffee during my lunch break actually." She said, suddenly getting the idea to take her sister to the coffee shop where Emma works, in order to get the chance to see her. "And as for wanting a sibling when you were a child, it was the same for me, obviously not entirely as I had family around me, but I grew up thinking I was an only child and not having any other people around me who I could relate to made me wish I had a brother or sister to talk to." "Yeah I get you, I mean when I was in the system I was constantly surrounded by other kids, but I usually wished I wasn't as they were usually assholes, and as soon as I did get close to any of them I would always just end up moving anyway, so I found it was better to just not get attached." Emma said, a frown visible on her face from thinking about her time in the foster system. "It must have been hard for you, I can't imagine-" Emma cut her off, clearly not wanting to discuss her childhood any further, and when Regina tried to continue with the subject Emma stopped her and got up from her spot. "I don't wish to talk about that part of my life, and honestly, I've already shared a lot with you, maybe even too much. Thank you for dinner but I really should be going, it's getting late and we both have work in the morning. I'll call you soon, or you could call me or something, but I really have to go. Thank you again for dinner, I'll talk to you soon." Emma said as she headed towards the door, choosing to ignore the hurt and disappointment that was clear on Regina's face. Regina quickly covered this up, hoping it would go unnoticed by the blonde. "I'm sorry if I went too far, it was not my intention to make you share too much. And if you were uncomfortable with telling me anything you could have just stopped. Goodnight Emma, I'll call you soon." Regina said, trying to remain emotionless as she showed Emma out. "Bye, Regina." Emma said as she hurried out of the door, not waiting for Regina to reply. She already felt as if she had shared too much and did not want to give Regina the opportunity to use any weaknesses against her later. "I'm such an idiot" she thought to herself as she made her way out, remembering the pained expression on Regina's features when she told her she had to leave. "I'm going to call her and make things right first thing tomorrow, if she even still wants to talk to me" she muttered to herself, knowing that she would not be able to get Regina off her mind until it was all sorted. "This is going to be a long night." She thought to herself, when she got inside her apartment and flopped straight down onto her bed.


End file.
